Episode #376: Why Every Food Blogger Should be Using Pinterest to Grow their Blog with Nadalie Bardo

EBT376 – Nadalie Bardo

Intro: Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom, whether that’s financial, personal, or professional.

I’m Megan Porta, and I’ve been a food blogger for over 12 years. I understand how isolating food blogging can be at times. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

Megan Porta: Welcome to episode number 379, sponsored by RankIQ. In today’s episode, I have a chat with Natalie Bardo. Natalie is from nataliebardo.com, and she talks about how to grow your food blog using Pinterest. She is a Pinterest marketing expert. She believes that we are leaving traffic opportunities on the table by not exploring Pinterest more. So whether you’re a new Pinterest user or you’re an old user who’s gotten frustrated over the years, she really believes that we should dig back into it. We have a great discussion about that in this episode. By the way, I didn’t mention this in the episode, but she does have a free live Pinterest bootcamp coming up on January 23rd. I mentioned it’s free. You should go sign up for it and see what she has to offer. If you go to the show notes at eatblogtalk.com/nataliebardo, Nadalie spelled with a D, so N A D A L I E Bardo, you can get all the information and click over. So we’ll see you there and enjoy the episode. 

Sponsor: Hey, awesome food bloggers. Before we dig into this episode, I have a really quick favor to ask you. Go to your favorite podcast player. Go to Eat Blog Talk. Scroll down to the bottom where you see the ratings and review section. Leave Eat Blog Talk a five star rating. If you love this podcast and leave a great review, this will only benefit this podcast. It adds value. And I so very much appreciate your efforts with this. Thank you so much for doing this. Okay, now onto the episode. 

Megan Porta: Natalie is a Pinterest coach dedicated to helping blogs, brands, and businesses like yours achieve their goals of more traffic, more subscribers, and more sales. Achieving 1 million views on Pinterest since her very first month for her personal development blog, It’s All You Boo, she has grown her email list to 14K subscribers and has sold thousands of copies of her digital products and courses. As a Pinterest coach, Nadalie has taught thousands of creators how to market their blogs, businesses, and brands on Pinterest. Hey, Nadalie, thanks for joining us on Eat Blog Talk today. How are you doing? 

Nadalie Bardo: I’m good. Good. I am like, even just the thought of the word Eat. I’m like, Ooh, food. 

Megan Porta: Sounds good. Where’s my lunch? I’m excited to chat about Pinterest today with you. I know you love Pinterest. You’re an expert in this area. But before we get into that, what fun fact do you have to share with us?

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, so I’m a plant mama. I don’t know if, I don’t really talk about it much, but I literally have over 40 house plants. The smallest is maybe like an inch tall and the largest is probably to my chin, like a good five foot something.

Megan Porta: Wow. I have envy for people who are like that because I’m not, but I want to be. So tell me, what is the, what’s a low maintenance, but beautiful plant if you have a few options?

Nadalie Bardo: So do you have a lot of natural light or is your home a little darker? 

Megan Porta: Yeah, we do have a lot of natural light. 

Nadalie Bardo: So I think the easiest plant in the world is the mother-in-law or a snake plant. Super easy to grow. It almost looks like the leaves of the tulip. You’ve definitely seen them. Impossible to kill. 

Megan Porta: Yes, I know what you’re talking about.

Nadalie Bardo: You could literally snap it in half, which I’ve done by accident and just stick it back in the ground and it will just grow new roots. ZZ plants are also very low maintenance. They’re very hard to kill. Even if they’re infected by bugs they’ll survive. 

Megan Porta: Awesome. Okay. For the past few years I’ve been obsessed with succulents. But I find that they only last, I don’t know. I feel like they should last longer than they do. I don’t know if I’m killing them or if they have a lifespan. I haven’t figured this out yet. 

Nadalie Bardo: Succulents are hard. Like you, you jumped in the deep end. 

Megan Porta: Oh. Whoops. I didn’t mean to do that, but they’re so pretty. They’re so cool. I love them. Okay, I love knowing that about you. So now any plant related questions I have, I will be emailing you and you’re gonna get really annoyed with me. So let’s talk Pinterest. You are a Pinterest expert. You’ve dedicated a lot of time to helping people figure out their Pinterest marketing. So let’s dig right into this. I’m gonna ask you just a huge question right off the bat, Nadalie. Why do you feel every food blogger should be immersing themselves in Pinterest marketing?

Nadalie Bardo: Oh my gosh. Number one reason, I would say that food and recipes is the largest niche on Pinterest, if not in the top three for sure. I’d say your average person is on Pinterest and looking for recipes is probably one of the main things they’re searching for. So it is the largest catalog, if we think about it. In terms of which website has the most recipes saved to it. It would definitely be Pinterest. So if you’re a recipe blogger and you want to build a dedicated fan base that loves what you’re creating, that follows you, that engages with you, then Pinterest is still the place to be. I would say even more so since quite a few people have fallen off, quite a few creators have given up, then you know you have an opportunity to step in and take up more space than before. Does that make sense? 

Megan Porta: Yeah. Sonew space has opened up. Because I was just sharing with you before we recorded, like a lot of people in my circle that I know are really frustrated and fed up with Pinterest because it’s not acting like behaving the same as it used to, right? So they get frustrated and they throw in the towel and they walk away. And you’re saying like, okay, that’s an opportunity because that is opening up space for others to scooch in and take the spotlight. 

Nadalie Bardo: Definitely. That spotlight’s waiting for you. 

Megan Porta: Yes. And I love what you said about food and recipes being, it’s like the biggest catalog for food and recipes. Not just that, but food and recipes tied to mouthwatering images and that’s what really pulls the people in, I believe. That’s why I’ve always loved Pinterest, because people see your hero shot and they need to click over because they need to know how you created that delicious food. So I think it’s such a powerful platform for that reason alone.

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, food bloggers, you have so many images. I’d say unlike, maybe if you’re trying to RankIQ for SEO and you’re focused on site speed, maybe your images will slow you down. But for Pinterest, your images, that’s your edge. That’s the place for them, share all of them there.

Megan Porta: Yes. That’s your edge. I love that. Okay, so I’m gonna ask you a few questions that aren’t in the notes just as they come up. So let me know if you don’t have knowledge or whatever as we go, but what are your thoughts on static pins versus idea pins? Should we be doing all of the above?

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, so just tying this back to what we were just talking about, people giving up and leaving. This isn’t what I signed up for. Everything’s so different. I would say that everything’s so different because I think a lot of creators got distracted by a lot of the new features and some of those new features, yes, idea pins. We all have PinterestTV, the verified merchant program. There’s so many new things. But foundationally, static pins are what’s going to drive traffic to your site. I do believe that, yes, we have so much potential with idea pins, especially if you are a US-based creator. There are new opportunities even with PinterestTV to do brand collaborations, to get in front of people, to show off your amazing cooking and recipe creating skills. But I do believe that we need to balance the Foundational Secrets of Pinterest success, which is consistently creating those static standard pins that allow people to click and get to our website, right? Because at the end of the day, we want traffic, right? 

Megan Porta: Yes, we do. 

Nadalie Bardo: That’s why we’re here. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. So it’s okay to do the idea pins to create those and to be in the program and do PinterestTV, but you’re saying don’t lose sight of those static pins, those traffic drivers. 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, definitely not. Because I’ve seen many accounts that say, I’m not getting traffic anymore. It’s because they’re just turning out all these idea pins, which are taking that spotlight away from your standard pin. So we need to share the love, not eclipse one for the other. 

Megan Porta: Okay. For a while I felt like this was just handed down from food blogger to food blogger, but I feel like people were saying that the more idea pins they created, the less their static pins were gaining traction. But maybe that’s because of what you’re saying and that they were just replacing one for the other. 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, I think it has to be a balance. For example, a couple of food bloggers’ accounts come to mind and they are consistently creating idea pins, but they’re also consistently creating standard pins. When their idea pins take off, particularly those that are focused on seasonality. So we’re talking about making sure your Thanksgiving recipes are out in September so they can build traction, right? Or holiday recipes or spring or making sure you’re tied to the season, but also getting started ahead. Those who create those idea pins, those idea pins take off, but so do their standard pins. It is very much that the saying of the rising tide lifts all boats. In this instance, our boats are our pins. But that’s what I’ve seen. So you just have to make sure you’re not just creating three idea pins a day and no standard pins because we want to make sure our images are getting indexed, that they’re being found and searched and still people, like at the heart of it, Pinterest is a search engine. People are looking and the things that they’re clicking on in search results are still standard pins. So I think if you’re struggling with this or if it was an issue, I honestly ask you, okay, are you overshadowing or underplaying the importance of these standard pins or also video pins. I feel like there’s a lot of room. A lot of people aren’t creating video pins, and we still have the capability and it’s just another way to stand out and you can still get the click. Just make sure you’re balanced. That we are not doing too much, because if we think about it, when you create a pin, Pinterest is pushing that out to your followers. But if all you’re pushing out is idea pins, they’re never really gonna see your standard pins. 

Megan Porta: Balance. That’s what it’s all about. Not just here, but everywhere in our whole world. I feel like that’s our lesson, is to balance it out. 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah. One more tiny tip about idea pins. Say for example, you have a holiday recipe, right? It’s a blog post you just did, you just published it. Don’t pin your standard image pin and then an idea pin on the exact same recipe at the same time. I would just stagger it, spread them out. 

Megan Porta: How far apart do you recommend spreading it apart? 

Nadalie Bardo: A couple of weeks, a week, maybe a week. A week or more.

Megan Porta: Okay. And what is the reason for that? Do you think Pinterest sees them both and favors one and kind of drops the other or what? 

Nadalie Bardo: I think I’m thinking of it more from the perspective of the user, right? So a lot of the times when people are creating idea pins, the idea pin gives it all the way. So in a way, it’s like more of an infographic where I don’t need to go to your website because why? You just gave me all the information on this pin. If I’m looking at something and I see an image, which is just an image, or I can watch this idea pin that tells me everything, which one am I going to give my attention to? It’s the idea pin, right? It’s the same reason why, for example, when people create infographics or charts or those types of images, they don’t really get clicks, but they get a lot of saves because people don’t necessarily need to come to your website. So if you use your idea pins more as a way to share a cooking tip or show a bunch of recipes as opposed to giving away the entire recipe, more of a trailer for your recipe as opposed to your entire recipe. Does that make sense? 

Megan Porta: Okay. Yeah, I love how you explain that. So more of a trailer.

Nadalie Bardo: Or a tease, you know? 

Megan Porta: For idea pins, I’m just trying to think if my VA does this for me at all. I don’t know, maybe a little bit, but I’m doing a collection. So Roundup style idea pins, do people do that? 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, I have seen those. Especially in an even like lifestyle, right? Outfits or images of decorations for example, if it’s like a home decor, type vibe. Yeah. So you could even do, top five recipes for New Year’s Eve. Then you’re just telling them to go check out all your recipes. You can show it off as opposed to giving it all away. 

Megan Porta: So we might have covered some of this already, but do you have best practices for Pinterest marketing as we go into 2023?

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, I think a lot of what worked in 2022 is gonna continue to work into 2023, barring any big shakeups on the platform. So I think when we come to best practices, number one of course we wanna focus on consistency. I think there’s a lot to talk about. What’s the magic number of pins we should be putting out every day? I’d say minimum, you wanna do around three to five fresh pins a day, if you can. If you can’t, at least one or two brand new pins that you’ve never shared before. Build up that consistency. You can schedule them out. Prioritizing, your SEO. So yes, properly optimizing your pin titles, your pin descriptions, your boards. Just check every single box because these things matter. I would say another really great best practice, I mentioned this earlier, is focusing on the seasons. Pinterest search and the traffic on that site is very much driven by what people are looking for when, and that shifts with every single month. Keep in mind that pinners are thinking far ahead. So if you have the opportunity to create your content early ahead of the curve, that search curve, then you are going to have a lot more success. So making sure that you use the tools that are available to you, like Pinterest trends. Figure out what people are looking for when creating those recipes ahead of time. Also, designing multiple pins per post. So I know you food bloggers love taking photos. Use them. I also encourage you if you are taking your images yourself, or even if you’re paying someone, say, Hey, when you’re taking my images, shoot some video, even if they’re just five, ten second clips that you can then incorporate into using as video pins, or they can even become the first slide of your idea pins. So things like that are going to be helpful. I also encourage you that going into the new year, look at Pinterest, not just as a silo, but find ways to promote your Pinterest account outside of the platform. So if that means using something like Tailwind communities to get others in your niche to share your pins to their boards, that’s gonna be helpful. Or looking and saying, okay, I have an email list. When I blast out my recipe, can I just add a link that says, pin this for later? That’s gonna help to start to build up engagement on your profile. So things like that. These are the foundational practices. They’re gonna help you a lot. Also, just keep in mind things not to do in terms of don’t repin. Don’t stress about group boards. Just focus on you and yourself. Stepping into the spotlight as this amazing and boss recipe and food blogger. I think that’s gonna take you to places in the new year with your pinning. 

Megan Porta: That was all such great information. Thank you for all of that. I do have a few questions. 

Nadalie Bardo: Totally. 

Megan Porta: So you mentioned focusing on seasons. How far in advance do you recommend mapping out content to align with Pinterest? 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, so I would say if you wanna do the best? I would focus on 90 days ahead of time. So that gives you time to create your content, take your images, design your pins, and schedule them out. Keep in mind that one of the shifts that’s happening is that it can take a lot longer for your pin to be indexed and to show up in search results. So some accounts are seeing that it takes three weeks. Some newer accounts are seeing that it can take over a month. So that’s why we do wanna get started early because it’s giving us time to, yes, create that content, to pin it, to even schedule out multiple pins, but to also make sure that, say if somebody is looking for an Easter recipe, that our recipe is up in time to be found. To meet that search, to meet the demand. So 90 days is when I would. So I would even just go, look at your calendar, you’re listening to this right now. Okay, what’s 90 days from now? Start brainstorming and start creating that content. 

Megan Porta: Okay, cool. Then, you mentioned like one to two or three to five fresh pins a day. What do you mean by fresh pins? Is that like a new image for each url, or what does that mean? 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, so a fresh pin is just a brand new image that has never been saved to Pinterest before. So we’re not doing things like taking the same image and saving it multiple times. You’re saving it once. You’re optimizing it to the nines. When you save it that one time, and then we move on and we’re creating a new image. So that’s why I encourage everyone to take as many photos as possible, and have some pin templates. At least five or more for every single recipe so that it isn’t hard for you to create multiple pieces of content and spread them out. So another best practice – some people will tell you, okay, yes, you can wait one day to share the same link again. I’m of the mind that I would rather give every single pin their chance to shine and I’d space out sharing the same link by a week. So say for example, you created a new recipe, you automatically pin it. Wait seven days before you share another image again. Even better if you wait eight, because then you can stagger it and you know you’re giving that piece of content a better chance to succeed as opposed to just pinning at the exact same time and the same day of the week.

Sponsor: Taking a really quick break from the episode to chat about RankIQ, my favorite keyword research tool that is made just for bloggers. Maybe you are looking for a more efficient way to do keyword research in 2023, and a way to open up space in your business so you can work on other projects. Or maybe you just want some much needed time off throughout the year.

I’ll share a strategy that worked really well for me in 2022 for my blog Pip and Ebby. It required four intensive months of work, and it has produced a nice, fruitful crop of blog traffic and revenue. During those four months, I published 57 blog posts, all of which were run through the RankIQ keyword research tool and optimizer and most of which were non-recipe content. They did not require recipe development, cooking, or photography. My blog traffic has been up 64% year over year thanks to the strategy, and that number has held strong for four months now. Go to RankIQ.Com to check it out for yourself. Now, back to the episode.

Megan Porta: Then you also mentioned optimizing for SEO. So title, description, and even your boards. Can you tell us, just give us the basics for that. How do we optimize the best for Pinterest? 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, so the same SEO rules apply as everywhere. So one, you’re gonna find your best keyword phrase for your piece of content. I encourage you to target your recipes as long tail keywords. So as opposed to just a holiday recipe. Okay, let’s be super specific. Try to find three to five word phrase that you can use. Make sure that phrase is in your pin title, that it is in your pin description. Of course, if possible, even just adding it to your image in a clearly easy-to-read font. So avoid super swirly scripty fonts that are hard for Pinterest to use. So we’re just checking all those boxes. Also, you’re gonna make sure you save that pin to a board that is also optimized. So it has a title. So if it’s easy chicken dinners or whatever the title types of recipes would be, that’s your board title and also just write a description. So when we’re adding in for our descriptions, for pin descriptions you have 500 characters. So just use the pinterest search bar. So when you click, there’s autofill. It’s showing you, okay, these are the suggested searches. So the words that are coming up in the search bar, they’re coming up because people are searching for them. So you can also use a tool like Pinterest trends to find these keywords. But sometimes, Pinterest trends are pretty limited. You can just use the search bar. So you know, as you’re writing your pin descriptions, as you’re writing your board descriptions, incorporate these words that you’re finding when you’re typing in your specific type of recipe you’re trying to find. Just checking those boxes alone is gonna help you. If you’re doing idea pens or video pins, just add in some topic tags. So topic tag is pretty much, think of it as almost like a hashtag. We don’t do hashtags anymore, but they’re only available for idea pins and video pins. 

Megan Porta: Okay, so what are topic tags? 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, so think of it like you’re adding just like how you would, for example, add a category to your blog post. So Pinterests has these categories of content only for video pins and idea pins for some reason. By tagging it, you’re just telling Pinterest, this recipe is relevant for, maybe it’s relevant for Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s, weeknight dinners. I don’t know what these specific keywords would be, but you would just type them in. For example, if you’re trying to find the right topic tags, think about, okay, what is my content about the recipe? Type that in, see what comes up. If it’s for a specific holiday, type that in. See if that comes up. If it’s for a season, type that in, see what comes up. So with topic tags, one thing that’s frustrating is that it’s like a limiting amount of options. You’re like, oh, why isn’t this keyword here? So instead of trying to fit your recipe into a tiny cup, take a step back and see, okay, what’s a wider bucket that this recipe could be related to? Because you wanna add more topic tags so that your piece of content can be found by more people. So it’s just the search engine’s way of categorizing, okay, what is this recipe about? Who should I show this piece of content to? So you just wanna make sure you try and find more topic tags that are relevant. But that’s only from video and idea pins. I don’t know why. This is the way of Pinterest. 

Megan Porta: Okay. All right. You mentioned Pinterest trends a little bit and how it’s limited. How do you recommend food bloggers do use Pinterest trends? 

Nadalie Bardo: Use it as well as you can. So of course, one, choose your country where you have the most traffic from. Most of us, that’s probably the US no matter where we live. Then just like how you would use a search bar to try and find related topics that you could create for your content or that you can assign to your topic. Because I know a lot of us create content and then try to optimize it. But just type it in. Type in the search bar, play around, see what the suggested related searches are. If you cannot find anything related, I would actually use Google trends. Because I’ve found that a lot of the times the keyword trend graphs and when search spikes are almost identical for both platforms. But Google Trends has more of a history of search terms and more data that you can go with, if Pinterest trends let you down, Pinterest trends doesn’t have it. Check the search bar on pinterest. If that doesn’t have it, then maybe you shouldn’t be creating that content because there isn’t that much interest. But if you still want to, go check Google Trends. 

Megan Porta: Okay. No, I like hearing that and getting permission on that because I’ve heard different trains of thought on that yeah. Okay. So I appreciate that. Back to the SEO thing. Do we do our keyword research with a combination of using Pinterest trends and the standard way that we do keyword research for our posts? 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, so you would be optimizing your onsite SEO for your search engine for Google. But you would be optimizing your pins, because most likely you’re using some type of social sharing plugin. Or even if you’re just scheduling your pins using something like Tailwind or even using just the Pinterest website, when you’re adding in your Pin titles and your PIN descriptions, you don’t necessarily need to make any changes on your website, right? So sometimes the keywords are the same, sometimes they’re not. So you definitely wanna prioritize the terms that you’re finding on Pinterest as opposed to the terms that you’re finding in Google when you’re writing your pin titles and your pin descriptions. Because remember, when you’re saving those pins, odds are that’s happening either directly through your scheduler or if you’re trying to pin it with the built-in plug-in, like the pin it button on your site. So they can be separate. 

Megan Porta: You’ve mentioned Tailwind a couple of times. Do you still feel like it’s a relevant tool to use for food bloggers? 

Nadalie Bardo: I think it’s a relevant tool because I’m the type of person who wants to batch and get ahead. Pinterest, if you wanna schedule directly on the website, you’re still only limited to two weeks at a time. So there’s only so far ahead you can get with that. So for me, I like to be able to schedule far in advance. Some people will argue that, okay, the pins I schedule on Tailwind, they don’t do well. I’ve had viral pins go out from Tailwind, so that’s not my experience. But if that is a worry for you, I would compare. Just track. Say, okay, I’m gonna put these ones out on the Pinterest website. I’m gonna put these ones out through a scheduler and see which ones do better. That’s the way you can test. But for me, the scheduler on Tailwind is just one of many features. Tailwind communities are still a relevant way for you to grow your account, especially if you’re stuck. There are so many communities with food bloggers and sometimes the ability for you to rank in a Pinterest search result, all you just need is somebody else to save your pin, right? You need that engagement. Pinterest needs almost this bit of verification. Oh yes. Megan’s awesome, right? Look how many people are saving her pin. You need that engagement and that’s just one of those ways to get it. Also, they just released this new ghost writer feature, which will write your pin descriptions for you. It’s pretty cool. 

Megan Porta: Oh, nice. Awesome. I’ll take them up on that. Okay, great to hear that from you. Then do you have any advice to just simplify Pinterest overall? Because I feel like it’s overwhelming for people, especially new bloggers who come in and they’re hearing, I have to create idea pins and standard pins, static pins and video, and it can be a lot and enough to make people just kinda wanna walk away. So can you simplify, give us some steps that make it less overwhelming? 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah. So I would say that Pinterest being easier for you, the key is just to insert it into your workflow and not see it as this other thing you need to do. So what does that mean? Like how do you add it to your workflow? For example, you are taking images anyways, right? So just make sure that, okay, I’m gonna make use of those photos afterwards. Or for example, when you create your content, just design a pin image. You mentioned the hero image. A lot of us create an image for our blog posts, for our recipe post. All I do for my blog is just crop off the ends, and that’s my pin. So find a way for it to be part of just what you do as opposed to this other thing that is yet again, on top of everything. Another thing that for me makes it so much easier, is that I just batch. So I will just sit down for a couple hours and I’ll just design a whole bunch of pins. I use Canva. You can get started for free. If you have Pin templates, either you’ve purchased them or you create your own, you just need five templates. Say for example, you have a new piece of content that comes out, you just drop in your new image and update the text. It doesn’t take a long time to create some fresh pins. Then I like to just save them to my computer in different folders so that when I wanna schedule, they’re good to go. Just having that time, like I will design them and then I’ll just schedule them, which is why I encourage you to just use Tailwind. Don’t see it like I think Pinterest is, it’s more of a mental hurdle than anything else. You already know what you’re doing. You already put all this work into creating your content. I think we just need to shift some energy to making sure that people find you and discover you, because I think we can get trapped in content creation and not realize that, you know what? Promotion is almost as important, if not more important than just creating and creating. 

Megan Porta: So yeah, I loved all of that. So adding it to your workflow, so it’s not like you’re going out of your way to do things. I’m such a huge proponent of batching, so I love those recommendations. Is there anything else you have just to simplify the process?

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, don’t get all shiny objects cross-eyed and swirly eyed over all the new features. I think, yes, Pinterest is changing. Yes. There are new things you can do now that you couldn’t before, and there are gonna be even more new features. That’s all lovely. But you yourself do not need to do all those things, right? So keep it simple. At the end of the day, all Pinterest is you designing an image and you linking to your content and sharing it out to the world. One pin at a time. I think you can put blinders on and have a bit of tunnel vision on that and just be like, okay, I just need to share this image that links to my content. I just need to share this image that links to my content. That’s it. At least once a day, schedule it out, batch it, so you don’t even have to stress. You literally don’t even have to open the Pinterest website or app every day. To me, I find that a lot easier. You don’t get as distracted. You don’t go on and see, oh all these other people are doing all these things. That’s great. Why don’t I do that? You just stay focused on your mission and at the heart of it, Pinterest is a tool for you to just grow your traffic, grow your audience, and everything else with it. In order for that to work out, you just need to make an image, save it to Pinterest.

So to me, that’s where I focus. I don’t get too caught up or starry-eyed about everything that’s out there. Yes, that could be your goal to build up to PinterestTV, to build up to making idea pins, but you don’t have to do that right now to grow your traffic. 

Megan Porta: I really hope this conversation inspires people to pick Pinterest back up if they’ve set it down, put it on a shelf and let it collect dust. Because I agree with everything you’re saying. I’ve always been a huge Pinterest fan, and I’ve always seen the potential, even when the waters have gotten a little rough. Like new things come out and things seem shaky, but I always feel like exactly what you’re saying, go back to the basics. You really don’t have to do that much. It’s really simple and if you wanna do extra, fine. 

Nadalie Bardo: It’s not required. Confession. I’m not making idea pins. I personally am not making idea pins. I just focus on my standard pins. I do make video pins because I like to just have a little variety in there and I’m coming up on my biggest season right now. I will hit over 10 million views, and that is just by just sticking with creating my pins and just pinning consistently, leading up to the big days. Everything else is like sprinkles on the cake, but that is the cake.

Megan Porta: Yeah. Have you talked to many creators who have done the PinterestTV experience?

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, so I am actually gonna do a few episodes coming up, but that’s only me that I have the time. But I wouldn’t say it’s essential. The ones I’ve talked to, I always love doing my research as I create any of my content. A few of them, they do say yes. They get a spike in followers and clicks to their website, especially if they’re showing off a recipe. So the advice I’ve received from the people who’ve done it is that you just wanna keep it simple. So go ahead and apply for it. You just have to fill out a little form. It doesn’t take long. You suggest a few episodes. I would look at your top blog posts, right? They like it to be seasonal because if you go and look at what’s coming up for PinterestTV, it is very much tied to what’s coming up, right? So think of a few ideas. Keep it simple, one recipe, because your segment’s gonna be 30 minutes. You are gonna get interaction and questions, but once again, this is all optional. If that feels overwhelming and you don’t wanna go live on Pinterest, you don’t have to. It’s just a fun thing you can do if you have the free time. 

Megan Porta: Yes, I love that. Giving permission to explore new avenues if you have the free time. Not a mandatory thing. 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, and you can do it and hate it and that’s totally fine.

Megan Porta: Yeah exactly. But try it once and see if you like it. Okay. I love this conversation, Nadalie. Is there anything else you feel like we should mention to people, maybe considering getting back on the platform or getting on it in the first place before we start saying goodbye? 

Nadalie Bardo: It’s just so worth it. I know I’m biased by saying this. I’m a Pinterest coach, right? Pinterest was the defining choice I made for myself, but it works. It’s worth it. Your content is amazing. Your recipes are delicious and yummy. Just imagine what could happen if more people could find you. You’re busy. I’m telling you, if you’re gonna post anywhere, posting to Pinterest has that longevity and it’s worth your effort. So that’s just my little bit of encouragement. It’s worth it. Just focus on doing the basics that’s gonna bring you success. 

Megan Porta: Thank you, Nadalie. This was so informative and fun and a great perspective, I think, on a platform that we could all benefit from. So thank you for joining me today. We appreciate you.

Nadalie Bardo: Thanks for having me. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. Do you have a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with today? 

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, so not really related to what we were talking about, but I’d say like one of my favorite quotes is that, you can always make more money, but you can’t make more time. I would say maybe we can make it related to Pinterest. If you’re at a point where you can outsource it, then go ahead. Bring back time into your life and let somebody else help you grow it. 

Megan Porta: Yes, please bring back time into your life. We will put together a show notes page for you, Nadalie. If anyone wants to look at them, you can go to eatblogtalk.com/nadalieBardo. Tell everyone where they can find you, Nadalie, online, social media, et cetera, and Pinterest of course.

Nadalie Bardo: Yeah, so if you just Google Nadalie. So my name is spelled with a D, not a T. I’m one of the only ones, so you’ll find me. I’m at Nadalie Bardo on everything. Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. That’s also my domain. I have a YouTube channel where I release weekly free training, so check it out. If you’re like, okay, I need a little bit more help, I want you to show me how to do it, then that’s definitely the place to check out.

Megan Porta: All right. Awesome. Thanks again, Nadalie, for being here, and thank you so much for listening today, food bloggers. I will see you in the next episode. 

Outro: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you posted it to your social media feed and stories. I will see you next time.